Transitions
by elaiel
Summary: Sequel to No Regrets and Changing. Sometimes the implications of a change aren't apparent until you live with it.
1. Chapter 1

Rush gritted his teeth through the normal moment of dislocation and instantly looked in the mirror. He grimaced, it was fucking Telford, typical. Nosy bastard. He turned round as recognition dawned in the eyes of Carolyn Lam's body. Thank god, he hated the idea of someone else in Chloe's body, didn't know why but it just didn't sit well. At least Carolyn Lam was a reasonable human being.

Chloe looked at him.

"Great." She said, scowling. "Bloody Telford."

There was a laugh from the doorway and they looked up to see Daniel Jackson standing waiting for them.

"You've been spending too much time with Nick." He turned to Rush "Sorry, I was ready to swap with you," he said, "but I was overruled. You aren't on the general rotation, at the moment it's just Carolyn and I, details of your condition are still classified at top levels, but he's good for that sadly."

"Of course. He's a nosy bastard, probably couldn't wait to see what it's like." Rush growled.

Chloe was suddenly glad Rush had such a distinctive accent, hearing it from David Telford's mouth made it easier to dislocate her mind from the idea of it being Telford.

"I doubt he'll do any better than I did." Said Daniel reasonably. "I came pretty close to throwing up and couldn't see for two days. The chronic headaches for the first two times I swapped with you weren't a piece of cake either, and I've got some experience with weird sensory things."

Rush gave Daniel a savage smile at the thought of Telford's discomfort.

"How does Dr Lam manage it?" asked Chloe.

"Much more sensibly, she'll go to your room, lay down, listen to music and enjoy not being on call for three days. The only thing she plans to do is give TJ consultations, lectures and training sessions."

"Sensible woman." Said Rush.

"It gets her a break from here and is useful for training TJ up." Daniel said. "There are folders on the table for you, keys and documents. Are you acclimatised yet?"

Chloe looked at Rush who nodded.

"We're cool." She said.

They both stood up, grabbing the go bags of clothes left for them. Daniel stood back and gestured them out of the room. They preceded him down the corridor and out, up in the lift and out to the checkpoint and he noticed how close they were standing. Much closer than on Destiny, not looking at each other, but both of them unconsciously brushing fingers across each others arm or back intermittently as if to check they were still there. Too quiet, he realised, couldn't hear each other. On Destiny they seemed to orbit each other without even looking, always aware of each other's location in the room, as if they each had their own gravitational pull on the other.

He signed them out of the base.

"Y' don't have to do this." Said Rush.

Daniel looked at them, head tilted slightly to one side in the pre-dawn outside.

"_It's fine, I volunteered after Telford stepped in. I figured it would be disorienting enough without having to force yourselves to speak English all the time for the benefit of some random air force chaperone. Considering your situation they wouldn't let you go off without supervision. I'm guessing this is going to be a difficult enough visit as it is, I'm the compromise."_

Chloe smiled.

"_Thank you."_

The flight was better than it could have been. Daniel kept them talking and distracted, he was getting a better feel for the familial register they spoke and seemed strangely pleased when Chloe told him it felt right for him to be speaking it, though she couldn't tell him why. They landed at some random military airbase in California, Chloe didn't bother to ask where, were signed out again by Daniel and picked up an assigned car. Chloe and Rush sat in the back.

They pulled up in front of her mother's house and Daniel turned off the engine. Despite it's familiarity it didn't feel like home. She looked at the front, starkly lit in the bright sunlight. Daniel turned in the front seat to look at them.

"Come in." She said to Daniel. "There's no point in you staying in a motel. Not for one night. It's not like Mom hasn't got the space."

Daniel gave her a considering look.

"Are you sure that's wise?"

Chloe nodded.

"I think Mom's going to need a little distraction from all the bombshells I'm going to drop on her. To be honest, this is self interest," Chloe said a little apologetically, "She'll make herself manage better if she's got company in the house."

The door opened, and Chloe could see her Mom standing on the doorstep looking at the car. Daniel looked at Rush, who shrugged. Chloe got out of the car and the three of them walked up the drive.

"Chloe?" called her mom, anxiously.

"Mom." She replied.

They reached the front step and Mrs Armstrong grabbed Chloe, hugging her tightly.

"It's been so long!"

"I know Mom, but I'm here now."

Mrs Armstrong let Chloe go and stepped back.

"Colonel Telford, Doctor Jackson." There was a faint look of puzzlement on her face.

"It's me," Daniel said, "but this is actually Doctor Rush."

The puzzlement deepened slightly, before Chloe stepped around her mom.

"Let's go in Mom." She said.

"Yes," said Mrs Armstrong, "do come in, I'm keeping you on the doorstep."

They walked into the hallway, Mrs Armstrong walking towards the lounge, but then changing course as Chloe was evidently making for the kitchen, visible through an open door.

"Chloe?" she said. "We have guests."

Chloe turned, smiling at her.

"I'm sure they won't mind Mom."

As Mrs Armstrong turned to them, Rush and Daniel caught the look on Chloe's face and had the realisation she was clearly stage managing this encounter.

"I hope you don't mind?"

"Not at all." Said Daniel.

They followed Chloe through to the kitchen, watching as she pulled chairs out from the table on her way to the coffee machine. They sat where she had indicated and watched as Mrs Armstrong followed her, her moves a little uncertain as Chloe set the coffee to percolate and assembled mugs, cream, sugar and set them all out on the table before taking the seat next to Rush.

"Cookies?" asked Mrs Armstrong, clearly a little off balance.

Chloe nodded, and watched as her mother put cookies on a plate then sat down.

"How are you?" Her mother asked her.

"Fine now mom."

"You got over your illness?"

"Yeah, we're fine now."

Mrs Armstrong's gaze flicked momentarily to Rush and back to Chloe.

"There's something I'm missing here." She said. "Which is why you're all here."

Chloe leaned back in her chair a little, body language open and confident. Rush and Daniel watched slightly bemused as the politician's daughter emerged.

"We weren't able to tell you everything that happened before, Mom and I still can't tell you everything." She said gently. "But for a while there I, we, were really quite sick."

Mrs Armstrong's face was a picture of concern.

"Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"We're fine now. But it's quite complicated and you're going to have to trust me on some of this that things are absolutely fine now and hear me out to the end." Her voice was firm.

There was a pause as Mrs Armstrong looked at Chloe, broken only by the noise of the coffee percolator.

"We, Doctor Rush and I, were affected by some alien technology that we came across." Chloe said. "We were changed by it and I was ill for quite a long while." Her mother went to talk and Chloe reached out and took her hand, silencing her. "Afterwards we started to show signs of being different, not to look at but knowing a different language, being able to see in the dark, hear a much wider range of sounds and people were worried we were a danger to the ship and crew. It took a while for them to work out what had happened and we were under supervision for a few months until they were certain we were okay."

They could see she had quite a firm grip on her mother's hand. Mrs Armstrong's attention was completely focussed on Chloe.

"What they've found out is that we look exactly the same, but inside we're a bit different which means we have better senses."

She released her grip on Mrs Armstrong's hand, and as if a spell had been broken, Mrs Armstrong flinched and looked at Rush then Daniel.

"'We' is you and Doctor Rush." It was half question and half statement.

Chloe nodded.

"How are you different inside?"

"DNA." Said Chloe. "We have different DNA."

"What does that mean? Everyone has different DNA."

"We're not entirely human anymore." Chloe said. "We're a bit more."

Mrs Armstrong's face went entirely blank and her hands came up to her mouth. She stared at Chloe.

Chloe's eyes flicked to Daniel and then to the coffee pot. He got up and retrieving the jug poured four coffees, putting one in front of each of them. Chloe added cream and two sugars to her mother's pushing it towards her.

"Coffee, mom." She said.

Mrs Armstrong wrapped her hands round the coffee.

"You need to know that I'm fine Mom, it doesn't make any difference to how I am day to day." Chloe emphasised. "And if you were there you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

Mrs Armstrong looked from one to the other of them, before settling on Rush.

"You're the same as Chloe?"

"Yes." He said. "And I assure you we're both fine."

She stood.

"I need a moment." She said, before walking out of the kitchen door onto the deck.

Chloe raised her eyebrows.

"_That could have been worse_." She said.

"_How_?" asked Rush.

"_She could have shouted and threatened to cause trouble_." Said Chloe. "_My Mom is very well connected_. _Trouble would be bad_."

She added cream to her coffee and sipped it. Rush grabbed his black coffee and took a long sip.

"_Missed it_?" Chloe asked him smiling. "_I made the good stuff_."

His glower cracked and he smiled briefly at her. "_Of course_."

After about five minutes Mrs Armstrong came back in, poured herself another coffee and sat down, looking more composed, but red eyed.

"Tell me the rest." She said. "I can see there is more."

"There's nothing else about my health." Chloe said. "But Nicholas and I are in a relationship."

Mrs Armstrong's gaze went from Chloe to Rush and back again. She looked as if she was turning over a whole series of responses in her head.

"I don't know what to say." She said finally. "Obviously I have opinions, but..." she tailed off.

"But I'm twice her age." Said Rush. "And not the sort of man you'd have chosen for your daughter. Certainly not if you've found out any of my history or talked to people who know me which I've no doubt you did after our last meeting."

She looked at him, studying him.

"Yes." She said.

There was a long tense pause as the pair looked at each other.

"How long?" Mrs Armstrong turned to Chloe.

"Six months." Chloe replied.

"So you were together when I saw you the last time."

Chloe nodded. "Not really, but we were getting to admitting it to ourselves."

Rush stood, taking his coffee mug, refilling it and gesturing to Daniel and they walked outside. Chloe waited till the door was closed.

"I'm happy Mom." She said.

"He makes you happy?"

"Yes, he does." She said simply.

"Why?"

It wasn't the question that Chloe had been expecting and threw her for a moment.

"He loves me, he cares for me, he understands me, he's brilliant, interesting, he's just him." She pressed her lips together in a half smile.

Mrs Armstrong considered her daughter.

"He's a widower twice your age with emotional problems, and by all accounts issues with authority." She said. "He's responsible for you all being out there."

Chloe shrugged.

"We've both had our problems, but he's been there for me," she said. "He was there for me as a friend before we got together, and he's kept us alive on Destiny more times than I can count."

Mrs Armstrong put her cup down on the table.

"How did it happen?"

Chloe stared out of the window at Rush and Daniel talking in the garden. Although he was in Telford's body, his posture and mannerisms were entirely Nicholas.

"When we got sick and started to change we started spending time together," she said, "looking out for each other." She took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. "When they decided that we had to be quarantined for security, I chose to stay with him rather than be on my own. He was a perfect gentleman, but we kind of just clicked. And then we were in love."

She looked back to her mom.

"What happened to that boy you were seeing."

"He's not a boy Mom, he's a lieutenant in the Marines, and we kind of drifted apart. He found it really hard to deal with me changing. He's seeing someone else now too."

"What happens when you come back?" her mom asked.

Chloe sighed. "If we come back we'll both be working at the SGC." She said. "We've already been told that."

"Doing what?" Mrs Armstrong asked, "I mean I know he's a scientist of some sort, but what about you?"

"Mathematician." Chloe said. "I'm really good at Math. Side effect of the issues. I'm getting pretty good at astrophysics too."

Her mom blinked.

"It's true Mom, it's what I do on Destiny now, part of the science team. The SGC are arranging for me to sit my exams for a Bachelors degree in Math some time when I come back."

Mrs Armstrong sighed.

"Mom," Chloe said quietly, "I really need you to deal with this, and understand I'm happy. I'm happy with the way I am, I'm happy with Nicholas and I'm happy on Destiny. The only thing that would make it better would be if I could come back and visit you properly."

"You don't want to come back?" Mrs Armstrong's face was stricken.

"Destiny is my home now." Chloe said. "I've been more there than I've ever been before."

"You're so different."

"I grew up Mom," Chloe said a little sadly, "I had to."

"You're only twenty four."

"Twenty seven." Chloe said making herself smile. "Although I was asleep for some of it."

Mrs Armstrong stood again.

"How long are you staying?"

"Three nights, we need two days to go and make arrangements to sell Nicholas' house, get all his stuff put in storage."

"Are they staying here?"

"Nicholas goes where I go, and I'm sure it would be more pleasant for Doctor Jackson to stay in the guest room here than in a motel."

Mrs Armstrong turned and put her mug in the dishwasher.

"Doctor...Nicholas will stay in your room?"

Chloe nodded.

"Doctor Jackson can have the green guest room. It's made up already as your Aunt Rachel is coming next Wednesday and I gave Maria and Elena the weekend off." She turned back to Chloe. "This is all a lot in a short amount of time."

"I know Mom, but I knew you'd want the truth. We can talk more later, there's a lot to tell."

"Why don't you show them around. I think I need a moment."

She walked out of the kitchen, Chloe heard her retreat to her sitting room.


	2. Chapter 2

_(This chapter contains smut at the end)_

* * *

><p>Chloe walked out on the terrace to join the other two. She walked up to Rush and he wrapped an arm round her shoulders. It felt strange being so much shorter, almost tucked under his arm. She leaned her head on his chest.<p>

"_How is she?"_ Daniel asked.

"_Unhappy. Confused." _Chloe took a deep breath.

"_Are you sure it was a good idea to tell her everything so quickly?" _Daniel asked.

"_She'll be better in the long run if she knows I told her the truth as soon as I could. She doesn't deal well with people hiding things."_ She looked around the garden. _"She'll come back and ask for more details as she gets her head round it. I guess we'd better go back in, I'm to show you round. She's putting you in the green guest room."_

"_And me?" _Rush asked. His voice rumbled through his chest in an unfamiliar way.

"_You're in my room."_

She showed Daniel into the green guest room, which he was more than happy to accept and led Rush along two corridors to her room.

"_This house is ridiculous."_

"_Senator for a father." _She said bluntly.

She opened the door to her room and walked in. It smelled strange and seemed larger than she remembered. Rush stood in the doorway looking at the neat bed and clean cream walls. He took in the cabinets along one wall, the desk with PC, the doors to closet and bathroom.

"_Your bedroom looks like a hotel room." _He said disbelievingly.

She turned to look at him. _"It's been tidied up." _She said. _"I got rid of some stuff when I came back one."_

"_Did you choose any of this?" _he gestured at the furniture.

"_Interior designer." _She said.

"_Of course._" He stepped into the room. _"How obvious. Where are your possessions?"_

She looked around the room.

"_You have more personal items on display in our quarters on Destiny." _He pointed out.

She looked around, it was true, she had the solitaire board he'd carved her, embroidered cushions she'd made them, a plaited grass mat. This room seemed comfortable but sterile. She opened the closet and walked in, looking through the rails.

"_I need to get rid of these." _She said. _"I won't need them again."_

She realised he was watching her from the closet door, shoulder propped against the door frame, arms crossed across his chest. It was such a Nicholas pose it made her smile.

"_I have trouble seeing you in most of this." _He said.

"_You've only ever seen me in eight outfits in the entire time we've known each other. And I've seen you in six."_

"_Six? Four?"_

She counted them off on her fingers.

"_T-shirts and waistcoat, desert fatigues, green fatigues, new black fatigues, new shirt and nasty alien wetsuit." She grimaced._

He nodded.

"_That dress and jacket, the purple singlet and trousers the blue aliens stole, green fatigues, new black fatigues, desert fatigues, my yoga gear, the nasty alien wetsuit and my new shirt."_

"_Fair enough." _He agreed. _"This still doesn't look like...you though."_

He reached out one handed and pulled out the edge of a designer suit in a muted blue then dropped it. She looked around.

"_Not now." She agreed. "There is about one rail of clothes in this entire closet I would ever choose to wear again." _She turned to him. _"I have no idea what to do with all this. Why am I here?"_

"_I don't know."_

"_Why are __**you**__ here?"_

"_I'm not sure about that either," _His tone was a little prickly_ "I'm just trying to keep my gob shut and not make things worse."_

She sighed.

"_Well what would you do if you weren't here with me?"_

"_I wouldn't have come back in the first place, I'd be on Destiny working on the shield repairs. Why do you think I avoid it?" _He scratched the stubble on Telford's jaw line. "_I'd probably be more inclined to do things if I wasn't stuck in _bloody Telford."

Chloe looked around the closet then started to grab items of clothing. She grabbed an armful and passed it to him.

"_On the chair." _She said.

He did as he was told and when he turned she was bringing out another armful.

"_Everything else can go." _She said. _"If I ever come back it won't fit anyway."_

She shut the door on the closet. He sat on the bed as she slipped quickly out of Carolyn Lam's uniform and into T-shirt and jeans. They weren't a bad fit though she had to turn up the bottom once to account for the slight difference in height.

There was a tap at the door.

"_Who is it?" _Chloe said, then scowled and changed language. "Who is it?"

"Me." Her mom's voice.

"Come in mom."

Mrs Armstrong walked in, taking in Rush on the bed and Chloe looking at the pile of clothes.

"What are you doing?"

"Working out what I want to keep." Chloe said.

Mrs Armstrong's face tightened.

"It's being wasted here." She looked at her mom. "It'll all be completely out of fashion when I get back anyway. It can go to the goodwill."

There was a slight release of tension.

"That's a very generous idea." Mrs Armstrong said, then changed the subject. "I was thinking we could go out for dinner this evening. My treat. What does everyone like?"

She looked at Rush.

"I'll eat anythin'." He said. "I'm not fussy."

"Same as always mom." Said Chloe.

"Doctor Jackson likes Middle Eastern and North African food." offered Rush.

Mrs Armstrong nodded.

"I'll go make a booking. Do you have anything to wear?"

Rush pulled out the bag Telford had left him, and opened it.

"Apparently yes." He said.

Mrs Armstrong left them.

"_Somehow I've woken up in completely the wrong universe." _Rush said. _"This is possibly the most irrelevant thing I have done in the last six years."_

Chloe looked at him.

"_Except for the fact it's my mom and she can cause a whole bunch of trouble, personally for me and politically for the SGC. I love my mom, but…"_

Rush looked at her, then rubbed the bridge of his nose with his knuckle.

"_But she's a liability."_ He said tiredly. _"And neither you nor the SGC need her to start throwing her weight around."_

"_I'm sorry." _She said. _"I know that you're doing this for me."_

"_Obviously, I'm just a little old to be worrying about impressing my girlfriend's mother."_

There was a tap at the door frame and Daniel looked round the door.

"_Not a statement I ever expected to hear you say, Nick." _He said smiling. His face turned serious as he turned to Chloe _"But you're right, your mother is a liability. Keeping her balanced is a political necessity."_

Chloe sighed.

"_Tell me something I don't know."_ She pulled a dress out of the heap of clothes on the chair. _"Mum sent Elena, Maria and Andrew off for the weekend, they're the staff, Maria and Elena are sisters, and Andrew is Maria's husband, it's a pity they aren't here. We're eating out." _

Daniel took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"_I can see that's going to be fun."_

"_A laugh a minute," _said Rush sourly.

"_You're marrying into one of the best politically connected families in America, on both sides." _Daniel advised him. _"Get used to it."_

There was an uncomfortable silence. Chloe looked at the look on Nicholas face and started to laugh.

"_Well there has to be some benefits to being several billion miles away," _she offered once she stopped laughing, _"and living in sin appears to be one of them."_

They all heard footsteps on the stairs.

"_We'd better stay out there." _Said Chloe.

Mrs Armstrong walked in, looking confused at the language.

"Hi Mom."

"I hope everyone likes Moroccan food." She said. "The table is booked for seven pm."

* * *

><p>The meal was tolerable. The food was authentic and excellent, and they managed to keep the conversation light, talking about unclassified topics, trips overseas and books and classical music. It wasn't until they were in the car on the way back that Mrs Armstrong broached any sensitive subject.<p>

"What language are you all speaking when I'm not there?"

There was silence. Daniel, driving, caught Chloe's eye in the rear view mirror and looked across at Rush.

"_Ancient_." Said Rush eventually

"And you all speak it?"

There was a further pause.

"We three are the only ones who speak it fluently and natively." He said honestly.

"Why?"

"Chloe and I had it downloaded into our brains by Destiny, although I'd learned some already from Daniel. Daniel learned it elsewhere but that's classified."

Chloe watched her mother turning the idea over in her head.

"And this is part of the changes that were made to you?"

"To Chloe and I, yes. Daniel is entirely human."

Chloe saw Daniel give her another look in the rear view mirror. They pulled off the freeway onto smaller darker streets.

"You speak it all the time together." Said Mrs Armstrong.

"Yes."

"Rather than English?" She looked at Chloe.

"Yes Mom. We work with it too, it's the language Destiny's systems work in, its Destiny's language. However apart from the three of us, people studying it for scientific purposes and on Destiny it's a dead language."

"Why do you speak it rather than English?"

Chloe shrugged, looked uncertain and caught Daniel's eye in the rear view mirror.

"We don't quite know Mrs Armstrong." Daniel said. "We think it's a side effect of the way Destiny put it in their minds."

Chloe put her hand on her mothers arm.

"It just comes out first mom when I'm speaking with Nicholas and Daniel, it's the first language we share, like Maria and Elena always speak Spanish to each other, but Maria speaks English to Andrew."

The explanation seemed to make sense to Mrs Armstrong, and she squeezed Chloe's hand and was quiet again. They drove on until they came to the community gates. The security guard saw Mrs Armstrong and waved them through. Pulling up outside the house they got out and walked indoors.

Chloe took off her coat, took her mother's and hung both in the cupboard.

"What are your plans tomorrow?" Mrs Armstrong asked them.

"We need to sort out my house." Rush said. "We'll spend the day there getting it organised."

Chloe noted the schedule had been brought forward.

"We'll be back for dinner though, if you don't mind." He added, catching Chloe's eye with a scowl as Mrs Armstrong turned away. Chloe gave him a grateful look.

Mrs Armstrong smiled as she turned back.

"Of course." She said. "I wouldn't dream of you having to fend for yourselves."

It seemed genuine, although he didn't trust it.

"I'm going to turn in." Daniel said. "It's been a long day with the flight and the drive."

"Oh me too," added Chloe, "we've been up for twenty hours or more and we need to get up in the morning."

Mrs Armstrong nodded, she looked tired herself

"Well, don't let me keep you up. I'll see you for breakfast."

They retreated upstairs, pausing outside the door of the green guest room with Daniel.

"_Will she keep asking for more details?" _Asked Rush.

"_Probably. She seems to have clearance for a lot of stuff." _Chloe said. _"A bit more than most of the families I guess."_

"_As much as we'd have told your father?" _Daniel asked.

"_Probably not, he had pretty full clearance." Chloe said. "He would have got the full story the SGC would have had."_

Daniel looked at them.

"_Well edited then." _He said.

Rush and Chloe looked at him.

"_If you're accusing us of withholding information from the SGC…" _Rush said dangerously.

"_I'd be absolutely right." _Daniel cut in. _"I've done it myself, and I've spent more time on Destiny than most everyone recently and have pretty much the full picture at home, I can see there's gaps."_

There was a moment of tension.

"_I'm not asking you to fill me in." _Daniel assured them. _"But I'm not an idiot and nor is Jack."_

"_Fine." _Said Rush_. "We'll leave it at that then."_

He half turned away ending the conversation. Chloe nodded.

"_Good night Daniel."_

They left him and went along the corridor to Chloe's room.

"_Now you see why I don' come back." _He said as she closed the door.

She turned to him, shrugging the dress off over her head, giving him a serious look.

"_It's not like we had a choice." _She said firmly. _"I needed to talk to Mom, she'd have caused trouble unless she saw me, and the last thing I need is her finding out information second hand about my condition or the fact I'm living with you and causing trouble. I had to bring you so she didn't get any ideas about our relationship being coerced or inappropriate, she needed to see it with her own eyes."_

He sat on the edge of the bed pulling off his shoes.

"_And so you've stage managed this whole encounter." _He said in annoyance.

"_Yes." _Her voice was hard. "_Did you think I was just a pretty face to carry a briefcase before I came to Destiny?"_

"_No! Of course not. Y' know I don't think that" _He protested, shaking his head. He tipped his head down and rubbed the back of his neck. _"I'm just not used to it."_

"_Just a very attractive mathematical brain?" _she asked pointedly.

"_No, look now you're putting words in my mouth." _He threw his hands up, looking at her, standing in Carolyn Lam's body and lingerie. _"This, all this is wrong. I'll admit I'm struggling, y' don't look like Chloe and you're not acting like Chloe."_

Chloe reached out and turned out the light. The room dropped into almost complete blackness, just the faintest smudge of light appearing at the bottom edge of the curtain. The sensory deprivation was sudden, unfamiliar and disorienting, no sight, little sound.

"_Better?" _she asked.

"_Darkness is darker than I remember." _He said.

"_But much better for not having to look at someone else."_

He heard her footsteps come cautiously over to the bed and felt her hand brush his shoulder. His mind was playing tricks on him, trying to fill in the image of her glowing in his night sight, but the blackness pressed in on him. There were a few more movements and she sat down next to him. Hands brushed over his chest and he felt her undoing buttons.

"_This is wrong." _He said.

"_You are not coming to bed dressed."_

He let her take off the shirt and strip him down to his underwear. She pushed him back until he got into bed and slid in next to him.

"_This is all wrong." _He said.

"_You're not used to be the one manipulated," _she said _"I understand that, it's usually you doing the manipulating, not me."_

"_I…"_

She reached out and put her fingers over his lips.

"_You have,_" she said, pressing gently, "_on several occasions, to get me to do things, when I was locked up the first time to get me to help with your calculations, when you were putting the virus in the message system. I know._" She rolled towards him over on her side, not moving her fingers from his mouth. _"I know you don't like not being in control, and I know why you did it, because you thought you had to, but you have to trust me now."_

She moved her hand away and felt the pillow move as his head turned towards her.

"_Well what choice do I have." _He said unwillingly. It wasn't a question.

Chloe reached out, touched his face to locate him and leaned in.

"Nicholas."

She kissed him, and he pulled back.

"_No, not like this, I can't."_

"_Yes, like this." _She pressed.

"_It's not my body…it's…"_

"_It's your mind." _She said._ "It's you, thinks like you, acts like you, talks like you, I could never mistake that."_

She leaned in and kissed him again, sliding her hand up the back of his head, to the point where the hair was long enough to grab and took a hold of it, turning his face into hers. As her fingers tightened in his hair he groaned and she knew she had him.

The size differential here was significant, on Destiny they were eye to eye, equally matched. Oh he was stronger than her, but in bed they met equally. As he rolled into her in this borrowed body, she could feel how much physically bigger he was, him larger than he should have been and her yet smaller and she gasped as he wrapped arms round her and pulled her to him, engulfing her.

She kept a hold on his hair, grounding him in familiar sensation that never failed to excite, as he leaned down to kiss her. The lips felt different, the mouth an unfamiliar shape, and the weight that inadvertently held her down against the bed was new, but the half spoken words in Ancient he mumbled as he kissed along her jaw line and down to her collarbone were entirely him, and her gasped responses evidently familiar enough.

She was trapped under his weight. Thicker blunter fingers on her breast, not so deft, but firmer, familiar moves with an unfamiliar pressure. She paused, concentrating on the sensation.

"_Are you okay with this?" _he asked, sliding his hand down to her hip.

"_Feels different," _she said,_ "I feel, less in control, tiny."_

His fingers tightened on her hip and her breath hitched. He stopped, and she knew that if they could see normally, he would be staring into her face in his night vision, trying to read her. After a moment he spoke.

"_You want it like this?"_

"_I've had enough of thinking for both of us today._" She said. "_Just love me."_

He ran his hand down between her thighs, sliding over her, rubbing gently, pressing into her and it felt tighter, somehow rougher, although his actions were familiar, no less gentle than any other time. His thumb rubbed over her clit and she pushed herself onto his fingers, grinding into his thumb and palm.

Chloe slid her hand down him to find his cock and that was different. Circumcised for one, and longer, narrower. She ran her hand over it, and felt him stop as he felt the difference in sensation. She knew from experience with previous boyfriends, including Matt, that lubrication would make this a whole lot more pleasant for him and doubted he had had much experience with circumcised cocks. She lifted her hand, spat in her palm and tightened her wet hand around him, making him groan and push into her hand.

"_Does it feel different?" _She asked.

"_Good, but less sensitive." _He said_._

She stroked him one handed as she reached under the pillow for the condom and tearing it open with her teeth rolled it onto him.

"_You knew." _He growled. _"You knew I would give in."_

She let out a short huff of laughter, lifted herself up, straddled him and slid herself down onto him. He inhaled deeply and let out a stream of invective in Ancient as she deliberately tightened around him. In the dark, her mind filling in his face for her, and her murmured monologue of Ancient as she rode him, his murmured responses in filthy Ancient that no-one else could know, she knew it was him and only him. She arched her back as she came and with his hands gripping her hips and a "Chloe!" he followed her.

Neither of them wanted to turn on the light, and they fumbled to dispose of the evidence and wash up in the dark, but eventually they were back in the bed, and Chloe was tucked into the curve of Nicholas body and it was the two of them, just them and only them.


	3. Chapter 3

They pulled up outside Rush's house. It was ordinary, suburban, tidy looking and Chloe was a little surprised

"_Maintenance service._" Said Rush tersely as Chloe looked at the trimmed grass and hedges.

She paused on the path, looking at the house as he walked up to the door. She could hear Daniel closing the car door behind her. As Rush fumbled in his pockets for the key he realised she was not there and looked back. She looked uncertainly at him and in that moment, he didn't see Carolyn Lam at all, but Chloe, clear as day standing nervously on his path.

"_What's wrong_?" he asked.

She took a couple of uneasy steps forward, to sensible talking distance.

"_Are you sure you want me to come in?_" she asked.

He looked at her for a long moment and she waited.

"_I've made my peace._" He said. "_I've been…_" he stopped and looked away. "_The chair._" He said.

She nodded and he turned back and unlocked the door.

"_Come in_." He said, stepping in and holding the door for her.

She stood in the hallway, looking around.

"_Is this you?_" she asked gesturing to the room.

"_Maybe_," he said, "it was." He looked around. His tone changed. "_I lived here for two years off and on after she died, you know._" He offered.

Chloe understood what he was trying to tell her, but it felt uncomfortably personal being here. In contrast to her neutral, interior designed room, in her mother's fashionably impressive house, this was a home that had been lived in, chosen, appreciated and worn like a comfortable pair of shoes. She wandered through the ground floor after Nicholas, feeling like a ghost, feeling like she had walking through Destiny for the first time. All his past resided here, overwhelmed her with its difference. She stopped and stood in the lounge, staring out at the garden.

She wanted to ask him what was his, what he had chosen, what his taste was in anything. They had so little on Destiny and what they had was largely what was available, not items they had chosen. Their focus was so narrow on the ship, survival, work, each other, that this was something they had never discussed. And maybe never would, she admitted to herself, her taste having been concealed in a veneer of fashion and social and political expectation and his blended with Gloria's where Chloe would not dare to tread.

She heard Daniel call out he was going to the store for milk and coffee and went to find Nicholas.

He was standing in his study. It could only be that, walls hidden by whiteboards and pieces of paper, an untidy desk, a computer, shelves of books and a couple of filing cabinets. Chloe looked at the equations on the walls.

"_The Ancient puzzle._" She said.

He nodded, looking around.

"_I virtually lived in this room, when I was here._" He turned on his feet, surveying it. "_Five years ago._"

Chloe cleared a space on a chair and sat down.

"_It feels less and more somehow._" She mused.

He turned on the computer and cleared space around a shredder. The computer beeped as it booted up. He unlocked one of the filing cabinets and took out a laptop which he set up on the desk and turned on as well, as it moved through it's start up, Chloe saw the SGC logo and log in request pop up.

"_It doesn't feel like five years on Destiny, not even the two and a half we've actually lived._" She picked up a familiar looking notebook from the floor and put it on the desk. "But all this, being back here, that should feel normal feels an awfully long way away from what's real."

Rush looked at her, then nodded with a slightly sad expression. His brow furrowed in an effort of memory before he turned and tapped log in and password into the computer then the laptop.

"_What should I do?_" she asked.

"_Everything on the boards and walls can go in the shredder._" He said, staring at the screen. "_It's not like it's needed anymore. If they need it, you or I or Eli can write them the proof from memory._" His lip twitched as he looked up at her, and he went to push back hair that wasn't there, dropping his hand back quickly when it didn't meet hair.

Chloe began to take everything from the boards, collecting the adhesive putty as she went and rolling it into a fist sized ball. She wiped the boards clean and put the paper through the shredder, for once glad to have normal hearing as it ground and sliced the sheets and scraps of paper to confetti. Watching it go into the shredder was a rather cathartic experience.

When she looked up he was sitting at the desk, staring at the email on the computer.

"_Five years of email?_" she queried.

"_Not so much as you'd expect._" He replied.

"_People trying to track you down?_"

He didn't reply. She walked over, trying not to read over his shoulder or look like she was doing so. He was still staring at the screen.

"_What is it?_" she asked.

He looked up.

"_It's from my nephew._"

She stared at him in surprise.

"_You have family? I thought you said they were dead._"

"_It's my youngest sister's boy, Michael._"

He scrolled down through the message.

"_Did you keep in touch?_"

She wanted to ask him a million questions, coming here had been a blessing and a nightmare.

"_I've been paying for his education, and apparently now his PhD._"

She looked surprised again.

"_His father upped and left when he found out she was pregnant, she was barely sixteen. She's never had any money, but he's a bright lad, and I had enough to spare. Just a regular cash transfer each month, enough to cover his accommodation._" He looked up at her. "_I'd completely forgotten._" He bit off a short laugh.

"_So what's he saying?_" she asked.

Rush opened an attachment, a photo of a laughing young man evidently after receiving his doctorate. There was a distinct resemblance.

"_That I don't need to send him any more cash. That he's grateful. That his mother's worried I've disappeared. That he's proud of his doctorate._"

Chloe put her hands on his shoulders and stared at the young man.

"_What's he been studying?_"

"_Molecular biology._" Rush said. "_He's in medical research now._"

They heard Daniel walk back in through the front door.

"_Will you reply?_"

Rush shrugged.

"_What would I say?_"

Chloe sighed.

"_That you're not dead, that you're working on a classified project for the military which takes you away most of the time. That you're happy? That you're pleased for him?_"

Rush rubbed the bridge of his nose with his knuckle. Chloe watched him till they both jumped at a tap on the door. Daniel pushed the door open, carefully balancing a tray of coffee in his other hand.

From the study they moved onto the living room, Rush sorting items into three areas, store, give away and a small pile to give to Gloria's family. Chloe and Daniel packed and stacked items until they ran out of packing crates and materials and Daniel made another trip to the store. When he returned Rush had the living room organised and Chloe was cleaning. As soon as the boxes and packing materials arrived they went back to packing and it was as Rush handed her a stack of records that she saw the change.

"Telford." She said coldly.

He looked around, surprised.

"Has Destiny dropped out of FTL?" she asked.

Telford blinked and shook his head. He looked annoyed and rather disoriented.

"No, Dr Lam sent me back."

Chloe stared at him.

"Why?" she asked.

Telford gave her an angry look which suggested he wasn't happy with being questioned.

"They should have warned us. Get out." She said sharply. She turned to Daniel. "_Daniel, please take him away._"

Daniel looked at her.

"_I'll be fine._" She said. "_Just take him out of here_."

She stood and waited, she could feel the tension building in her chest. Telford stood, he dug in the pockets of his pants, checking the contents, and putting the door key down on a table walked out of the room, finding the front door and walking out. Chloe stood in the living room, looking around. Daniel put his hand on her shoulder and he jumped.

"_I'll take him to somewhere he can be picked up from and come back._" He said, looking into her face. "_Then I'll come back. Are you sure you'll be okay?_"

"_I'll be fine._" She said. "_Just...find out how Nicholas is and if he's coming back. I'll finish packing these and start on the clothes, he's already said he'll keep most of them._"

He patted her shoulder again.

"_My number's in the phone you were given._" He said. "_Call if you need me. I'll ring if I'll be longer than a couple of hours._"

He left and Chloe heard the car go. She took a few minutes to calm down again, her heart was thumping in her chest. After a while she sighed and set back to packing the items from their groups into the appropriate boxes and, but it didn't take long and she was left standing in the living room. She walked out and finally went upstairs.

There were two obvious guest rooms a bathroom and a room that was obviously his, or maybe theirs. After 2 years it definitely looked like his. The room was a little untidy, the bed was pulled into shape but the duvet cover was creased and the pillows piled into a heap in the centre of the top of the bed. There was a pile of books and a stack of papers by the side of the bed. She looked in the wardrobe. There was a selection of shirts and pants hanging up, mainly jeans or casual in a variety of muted colours and neutral tones, casual jackets, some vests, waistcoats her mind reminded her, a couple of very conservative but well made suits and several pairs of shoes. In the drawers she found underwear and a selection of t-shirts all in similar colours to the shirts. She ran her hands over them.

She retrieved a box from downstairs and began folding clothes, packing them neatly in layers in the box so they creased as little as possible. She emptied the wardrobe and drawers of clothes then stood there wondering what to do next.

The en suite bathroom still had half dried out toiletries in the cupboard and she threw them in the trash, folding the towels and starting a pile of general linen in the bedroom. That took another twenty minutes, retrieving sheets, pillow slips, towels and the like from rooms and cupboard. Everything except the bed.

She sat down on it and a sudden wave of loneliness washed over her. Slipping off her shoes she slid onto the bed and pressed her face into the pillows. The scent was faint, not the all encompassing scent she was used to at home, but it was there and she inhaled his smell. She curled up, wrapping her arms round the pillow and rested, just for a little while.


	4. Chapter 4

Rush opened his eyes and flinched. His head was pounding and it took him a moment to realise he was on a bed in the infirmary. He looked up, struggling to focus on the faces above him. Young, TJ and either Chloe or Carolyn Lam.

"Chloe?"

"No, it's Doctor Lam."

His head throbbed.

"What happened?"

Doctor Lam sighed.

"Colonel Telford insisted on exchanging with you." She said with irritation. "I warned him, as did Doctor Jackson, but he wouldn't listen. He's not coped well with your adaptations since he's been here."

"Too interested in seeing what you could do." Said TJ. "He refused to take it easy and eventually collapsed. Dr Lam sent him back on medical grounds before he had a chance to do you any real damage."

Rush tried to sit up.

"Chloe."

TJ pushed him down again.

"Where were you?" Young asked. "Where is Telford?"

His voice was angry and for the first time in some time, Rush realised they were both actually on the same page.

"My house." Said Rush. "Daniel Jackson was there too."

"Good." Said Young.

Rush rubbed his eyes.

"Surely you don't think that Colonel Telford would do anything to harm Chloe?" asked Carolyn Lam.

"Not physically," Young said, "but he's not the most restrained when he's got an idea he wants to follow through, and I don't think he'd have any reservations about pressing her for information about her condition or about Destiny and the crew."

Carolyn Lam raised an eyebrow. TJ shrugged.

"Colonel Telford has some trust issues with Doctor Rush and also some issues with Colonel Young's command of Destiny." TJ said diplomatically.

"Telford's an obsessive bully." Rush tried to sit again. "I need to get back."

"Not until you've had a rest and at least cleared the headache and let your heart rate get back to normal." Carolyn Lam's voice was firm.

"I'll get back on the stones," Young unfolded his arms, "register a complaint and get someone to check on Chloe and Doctor Jackson."

Rush's head was still pounding hard and focus was something he had to strain for.

"You are going nowhere." Said Young. "I'll make sure she's okay."

"She'd better be." Rush growled.

"Don't make me have to sedate you." TJ warned him.

Rush snorted and regretted it.

"Did you threaten Telford with that?" He asked.

"She did it." Carolyn Lam informed him. "I sent him back as he wouldn't take no for an answer and to sedate him again would waste precious resources."

TJ lifted the hypodermic and Rush scowled.

"If you rest for eight hours," Doctor Lam advised him, "I'll let you go back."

"Six." Rush bargained.

"Eight." Doctor Lam's voice was firm. "Your body is physically exhausted, I can smell how much pain you're in it's so bad and you're still massively tense and your heart's beating too fast with the pain."

Rush squinted at her.

"Well you are getting used to this aren't you?" he sniped.

"Too damn right." She responded. "Sleep Doctor or I will sedate you and it'll be twelve hours before you get back there."

Young put the stone on the plate and after a familiar moment of dislocation he was at Homeworld Command, randomly in the body of a youngish female airman due to his unplanned arrival. Damn, he hated swapping with women. It made him feel uncomfortably voyeuristic every time he had to go to the lavatory.

"It's Colonel Young." He said to the airman outside the door. "I need to speak to O'Neill and to call Chloe Armstrong."

"Yes sir."

Young waited while the airman phoned up and after a short while another sergeant arrived, one Young recognised as working directly for O'Neill in some sort of administrative capacity. The name on his chest said De Sousa.

"General O'Neill is not in his office at the moment, Colonel," he apologised, "but I am happy to see what I can do for you, and take a message for General O'Neill".

He led Young down the corridor in to another office which Young assumed was his own. They sat down and the Sergeant made them a coffee from the percolator.

"I want to make a formal complaint about Colonel Telford's behaviour." He said. "I believe that Doctor Lam will also be making a report when she comes back from Destiny."

The Sergeant gave him a surprised look.

"I also need to urgently contact Chloe Armstrong. Dr Lam terminated Doctor Rush and Colonel Telford's connection abruptly and she will probably be wondering what is happening."

Sergeant De Sousa nodded. He went to his desk, unlocked the computer and pulled up a spreadsheet. After a moment he picked up the phone and tapped in a number, before handing the handset to Young.

The phone rang after a moment it was picked up.

"Telford."

Young stopped sharp for a second before collecting his wits and continuing.

"Where's Chloe, David?"

"Back at Rush's house."

Young could hear a car in the background.

"How come you've got the phone?"

"It was in the pocket of my jacket."

"Figures."

"Not going to tell me off Everett?" Telford's tone was a little mocking.

"I already made my opinion clear on Destiny and you ignored it. Tell Doctor Jackson to take the phone back and give it to Chloe. Ask her to call in."

He hung up.

Daniel let himself in, and wandered through the house two hours later. He finally found her curled up on Rush's bed, he was wrapped around a pillow and had scrunched the quilt up around her. In sleep it was hard to distinguish her from Carolyn, but when he gently shook her arm to wake her up, if was clear from her response that it wasn't Carolyn. Carolyn had the medical professional's ability to go from completely asleep to alert in seconds. Chloe went from asleep to hyperaware and looking for trouble, rolling backwards away from him, with a deep inhalation. Daniel took a step back in surprise at the strong reaction. She looked at him from where she was crouched on the far side of the bed, pulling herself together.

"Sorry," she apologised, "I don't sleep well on my own."

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I have PTSD and I feel half deaf, blind and scentless here." She said.

Not the question he'd been asking.

"Coffee?"

She stood.

"Okay. What time is it?"

"One in the afternoon. I brought back lunch. I have the mobile by the way. Colonel Young called, he wants you to call in to check you're okay."

Chloe took the mobile and rang back the last number. It didn't ring long before a woman answered.

"Can I speak to Colonel Young?"

"Speaking." Said the woman in a slightly wry voice.

"Oh." Chloe stifled a laugh.

"You take what you can get at short notice." Young said. "How are you?"

"I threw Telford out." She said. "Is Nicholas okay?"

There was a short bark of laughter.

"Rude, aggressive, sarcastic."

Chloe laughed again, Young joined her a moment then sobered.

"He has a pounding headache and TJ says he's physically exhausted, but he'll be fine after a sleep. TJ and Dr Lam are making him rest for eight hours while they try and find someone else who can swap with him. He was pretty intent on getting back to you but Dr Lam overruled him."

"How long till he comes back?" she asked.

"Probably in the morning by the time he gets to you." Said Young. "But Doctor Jackson is there to, ah, keep you company."

Chloe noticed the awkward pause.

"Baby-sit me." She clarified. "Make sure I don't go crazy."

"You said it." Young said. "But pretty much that's the idea."

Chloe sighed.

"It's okay, it's a good idea, I need company and I need someone I know."

"Okay, well, now I've spoken to you I'm going back, I've done what I needed to do here."

"Okay." She said. "Tell Nicholas I'm going to stay here and…" she paused.

Young laughed.

"I know. You try and relax. See you in three days." And he hung up.

Chloe went to find Daniel.

Rush gave up and tried to sleep. The infirmary was quiet and deserted apart from him, but despite the exhaustion he failed to sleep until Young came back a couple of hours later to say he has spoken to Daniel and to Chloe.

"They're staying at your place till you get back." He said.

Rush nodded then winced.

"I've registered a complaint about Telford's behaviour." Young added.

"Good, I'll be doing the same." Rush would have liked to have snapped the words out, but now he had begun to relax he was too sleepy and in too much pain and the words came out as a weary murmur.

"Get some sleep Rush." Young advised, not unkindly. "I know you're a lot of work, but Telford really gave you a good competition on that one."

Rush snorted.

"I think Chloe's mellowed you." Young told him.

"I must be doin' summ'n wrong then." Mumbled Rush sleepily, giving him a vague scowl. "I thought she was gettin' sharper."

Young laughed, and heard Rush mutter something else in Ancient that sounded like it was quite probably telling him to do something anatomically improbable. He left the man to sleep.

Mrs Armstrong had not been happy that Chloe wasn't coming back for dinner. Chloe had explained Nicholas sudden recall to Destiny, conveniently leaving out the conflict with Telford and said she and Daniel needed to finish up without him.

After lunch Daniel had retrieved Rush's SGC laptop, and sitting at the desk in the study they had worked on recording the grammar of Destiny era Ancient. Chloe found it difficult to explain a lot of it, it was too automatic, too ingrained but she was willing to answer Daniel's questions until he could establish what the rules must be from her responses.

"What if you're talking about two people?" "What if it was something that happened but isn't happening any more?"

Largely it appeared from Daniel's explanations of what she was saying, that the grammar was the same but with some structures that had gradually simplified, and informal familial and highly formal registers which had evidently fallen out of use. It passed the time, kept her mind off of other more painful topics and felt like she was doing something useful.

When Daniel had amassed enough notes that he needed to start writing them up, she moved to one of the white boards and started to doodle vaguely. It wasn't until she felt Daniel put a hand on her shoulder that she really started to think about what she was doing.

"_What is it?_" Daniel asked, staring at the white board full of equations.

Chloe stepped back and looked at the board thoughtfully.

"_Power conversion calculations for the FTL drive._" She said.

"_Something you're working on?_" he asked.

"_Not really,_" she admitted, "_Nicholas and Brody have been though. It's an ongoing problem. I don't have all the data I need to finish the calculations yet anyway. File under not yet resolvable without further data_"

He squeezed her shoulder.

"_Seems like you've had a few of those recently._" He said gently.

She nodded. "_I know._"

She wiped the figures from the board then turned to face him.

"_What's really bothering me though is how my mom knows Colonel Telford_."

Daniel shrugged.

"_Maybe he came out here to speak to her about you and your father?_"

Chloe shook her head as she replaced the eraser and the board markers on the side.

"_No, I came out to tell her about Dad and he's not her liaison with Homeworld Command."_

Daniel looked at her.

"_He could have met her at a function like I did?" _He offered.

Chloe looked at him.

_"Well enough that she recognised him before she recognised you? She's seen you at least three times, two functions, you said?" he nodded "And the first time you swapped with Nicholas."_

Daniel nodded. _"And a further two meetings with Jack also." _He said.

She shook her head.

_"I can ask Telford." _He offered. She frowned. _"Or Jack?"_

She walked to the door and he followed.

_"I'm probably just being paranoid," _she said walking out and towards the kitchen, "_but I just don't trust Colonel Telford."_

_"Or your Mom?"_Daniel asked quietly.

Chloe turned to face him, bracing a hand against the kitchen door frame. His look was intent, head tipped slightly to one side and for a moment he looked very similar to Nicholas. All this body swapping was getting confusing. She shook her head and her expression drifted to sad and slightly wistful, gaze floating away.

_"My Mom has her own opinions on what is good for me." _She said. "_She's not above manipulating the situation to get what she wants. She's changed a lot in the last three years as well, She's harder, not as fragile." _Chloe pursed her lips and looked back at Daniel. _"I'm not entirely sure what she's actually doing."_

Chloe allowed Daniel to distract her and shepherd her into doing things. After he had typed up his notes about the Ancient grammar he made them a sandwich and coffee and persuaded her to be recorded speaking Ancient.

"You're probably the only native speakers of this dialect of Ancient we will ever get to record." Daniel said. "It's an incredible opportunity to have. You aren't even modern speakers of an older dialect still in use, you're speaking the original dialect apparently natively. It's rare I get a chance to just study a language these days." His expression was enthusiastic, almost boyish and she couldn't help but give in to his enthusiasm.

Rush finally arrived back on Earth at about two in the morning. He had been swapped into the body of a young medic, apparently one of Dr Lam's minions. Despite being about twelve, he was much closer in build and height to Rush which was a definite improvement on previously, although anything was an improvement on being in Telford. Rush actually hoped the young man was managing okay, being dumped into a disorienting and potentially painful situation at the last minute.

He wasn't keen on the Asgard beaming technology. As a technological tool he appreciated it and wouldn't have complained at the chance to play with one, but although he'd never admit it or allow it to show the various times he had been beamed had always given him a certain sense of unease that the stargate had never given him. As soon as he had come back, the sergeant on charge had passed him a message that as there was a ship in orbit, O'Neill had arranged for him to be beamed directly to his house. He couldn't refuse, it was either take the quite generous offer or have admit he didn't like the idea of being beamed and then take a few hours to get to Chloe.

The musical tone sounded and Homeworld Command faded out and his hallway faded in. As did the gun pointed at his face. Daniel was pointing the business end of a hand gun at him, from the partial cover of the kitchen doorway. Rush regarded him with a little surprise but stood where he was.

_"It's me Daniel. You can put the gun down."_

Daniel appeared to tuck the gun into the small of his back and Rush assumed he must be wearing some sort of concealed holster under the open plaid shirt he had on over the t-shirt.

_"Chloe's asleep."_ Daniel told him, stepping into the hallway.

_"You're not."_Rush noted.

Daniel's brow furrowed.

_"I'm not entirely comfortable with the way things have gone, Nick." _He said. _"I think Chloe's right; she said earlier she thinks there's something not quite right, Telford exchanging with you at the last minute, her mother recognising Telford when you arrived."_

Rush put the bag down on the floor and walked up the stairs. There was a light coming from his bedroom. Although he'd known where she'd be. She didn't have the hearing here he was used to and he had to remind himself when he walked in and she wasn't already awake that she simply hadn't heard him. She was curled up in his bed, wrapped around his pillow, covers pulled up tightly around her.

"Chloe?" he said quietly.

She didn't wake and he repeated it louder. She woke with a start, looking up with wide shocked eyes as she rolled off the bed to regard him from the other side, face distrustful.

_"It's me." _He said.


End file.
